Catfish with Black and Red Beans in Coconut Cream

Ryan went fishing again for a couple of hours last weekend, and he caught 3 big catfish. Last night, he asked me to cook this...

I simply call it Catfish with Black and Red Beans in Coconut Cream. This is one of our favorite ways of enjoying his freshly caught catfish. Filipinos love anything cooked in coconut milk/cream, you know.We call it ginataan.We cook anything with gata (coconut milk/cream): from beef, pork, poultry and seafood to vegetables and fruits. I've featured some ginataan recipes here already like the Ginataang Tilapia, Ginataang Kalabasa at Sitaw and the Ginataang Halo-Halo, but this one is a bit different. This doesn't have a soupy consistency, mainly because I used coconut cream instead of coconut milk. I also added Japanese curry roux into it for more flavor and it also made the sauce thicker...and instead of vegetables, I used beans for added texture.

This very flavorful dish is always a hit on our dinner table. You should see for yourself!

Note:

This way of cooking works well with fish fillet. For whole fish, a soupy consistency like that of my Ginataang Tilapia is more appropriate.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. catfish fillet, cut into 1” strips

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium sized yellow onion, quartered

1 thumb-sized ginger, julienned

2 cubes Golden Curry Sauce Mix

11/2 cups freshly cooked beans (I used black and small red beans)

2 pcs. Jalapeño pepper, seeds removed and diced

1 Tbsp fish sauce

1 *14oz. can coconut cream

4 Tbsp pure olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Sprinkle catfish with salt and pepper. Let sit for at least 15 minutes. In a skillet over medium heat, fry catfish strips in olive oil until light brown. Remove from skillet and set aside.

2. Sauté garlic and ginger in the same skillet until light brown. Add beans, onion and curry cubes. Sauté until curry cubes are melted. Mix well.

3. Pour in fish sauce and coconut milk. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper to suit your taste. Lower heat to medium low. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes.

4. Add Jalapeño pepper. Simmer for another 3 minutes. Add cooked catfish. Gently cover with sauce. Cover and simmer for another three minutes.

26 comments
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Cat fish is so cheap over at my place but the thing is you need to buy them alive and kicking. I just don't have the guts to kill them before cooking, so I have not tried it at home. I hope I can find the cleaned and fillet so that I can prepare the same dish at home.

All of my friends who have tasted cat fish love it so much and sad that I can't remember how the taste is. Very nice style of preparing the fish and just like you, we too use coconut but most the milk version. I will love this recipe as you have shared,with the rice.

Catfish fillet can be bought in most supermarkets here...but the problem is they all have that strong muddy taste. We haven't been buying it since Ryan started fishing. It's a lot better to do the filleting by ourselves so we can let it bleed out and we can be sure that there's no muddy taste in the fish we eat.

This is a unique recipe. In fact, I may find myself eating more catfish since I have come across this. Blackened or fried is a pretty limited amount of recipes, so I am glad to see this. I see you comment above, I hate mudcat but there are some farm raised out there that is not bad. Cool that you have fresh caught, nothing beats that!

Tina, I agree with AidoVenus: your photos are so pretty. I feel that I can be successful making this dish because you provide such clear directions and step-by-step photos. I'm becoming a bigger fan with each blog post!

Oh I love catfish. I always soak it in milk for 15 - 30 minutes to take some of that muddy taste out of the kind I buy from the store. You're so lucky you get to use whole fresh ones. The catfish looks delicious with the beans and rice.